Aluminosilicate sources of Cs+ ions

Abstract

Synthetic cesium aluminosilicates in the form of β-eucryptite (Cs 2O·Al2O3·2SiO2) and spodumene (Cs2O·Al2O3·4SiO 2) were used to construct thermionic emitters of Cs+ ions. Total ion emission current and purity of ion emission of Cs+ ions for these two forms of aluminosilicates were studied and compared at four different material surface temperatures over 50 h of continuous heating. In addition, the ion emission characteristics were investigated for three other compositions of cesium aluminosilicates. It was revealed that as a Cs + ion source, β-eucryptite gives the optimum ion emission at the temperature of 1100°C. © 1994 American Institute of Physics.